Well, they are all the same for the most part, even though they sell it as Panasonic, Canon and Nikon.

These companies (and Olympus, Pentax or Fuji which sell slightly different superzooms but they're just variations of the design) don't actually make compact cameras anymore. They just rebrand the ones that are designed by this chinese company, in the case of these superzooms I think it's called JK Imaging. And they actually do a better job than these brands would. If anyone has any questions about that, look at images from more premium compacts with small-ish sensors such as the Olympus XZ-2 and Pentax MX-1 (also rebranded chinese products). These cameras almost rival much more expensive stuff like the Sony RX100 in terms of image quality - and in some cases the images that come out are actually better, especially at lower ISOs - though they can get to ISO 3200 and still give good images, something fantastic for a small-ish sensor camera (thanks to a technology called BSI - Backside Illuminated sensors, which is still making its way into larger sensor cameras).

Digital camera classes "a step below" DSLR:1) "Mirrorless" cameras (more of a DSLR alternative as these can be pretty pricey too, just not usually *super* pricey like top end DSLR)2) Point and shot cameras with bells and whistles (such as BIG ZOOM LENSES or more adjustable settings)3) Er... point and shoot cameras (why bother when you have SmartPhone?)

So... er... there really isn't an equivalent to Microkorg that I can think of.

The cheapest way into DSLR is to buy an older base. Prices fall off really steeply. Of course after that there's the lenses...

With a D3100, you can use the stock lens (usually stock lenses are only "okay").

Glass wise, the extremes tend to be a few cheapie but awesome lenses that are usually fixed focal point. (50mm fixed lenses usually are cheap -- as in, $100ish -- and a significant upgrade from stock.)

At the opposite end, you have the $18000 fixed focal telephoto lens. So big and expensive, most of the Amazon reviews are not srs. (These type of lenses are mostly used by corporate-chartered pros in wildlife photography and especially sports. Mostly Canon lenses; the Nikon super-teles are priced too damn high. )

My current lens range is a couple of nice mid-priced zooms (one "general", one 70-300), and a fixed 50mm. Also one Canon "pancake lens". It's small and cute and works great and... maybe this iz equivalent of camera Microkorg?

The first prime lens for an APS-C camera like the D3100 should be the 35mm 1.8 (around 200 dollars), not the 50. The 50 is too long on those cameras, it's like a tele lens. Having said that I use my 50s a lot, but the 35 gets more use.

But unless one has a lot of expectations from their photography, the kit lens should be pretty much fine.

Plink: the pancake is the 24mm 2.8, it's pretty good and pretty cheap too. It gives you like 38mm equivalent in the Canon T3i, so it's a normal-wide lens, not really a wide lens. But it should be a lot of fun and all you need. The Sony point and shoot I had for years had a 38mm equivalent, by coincidence. We made it work just fine.

Clav. If you have a low budget and no video needs, get an older camera with a manual lens to play with. This is my most used setup:

Pentax K20D (will cost you about 200-250 dollars).Lens: Rikenon XR 50mm f1.4 (will cost you about 50-60 bucks) - it's a totally manual lens other than aperture automation, meaning you have to learn to use the camera's manual mode. And focus manually. But it gives you these kind of results (after doing some post processing of course):

The kit lens (18-55) will usually come free with the camera at that price, and is an ok lens as long as you learn to live with its limitations, which is, if you are indoors, you will have to use the camera's flash pretty much all the time (or get a dedicated flash and bounce it if you feel fancy, my 25 dollar Pentax vintage flash works great). But at least you'll be able to use the Program (auto) modes.

Just like with Nikon, there's a 35mm lens for Pentax that is a "normal lens" (equivalent to that 50mm lens that your dad or grandpa had on their film cameras, and that was all they needed!). But the Pentax version is cheaper than the Nikon and just as good. On Amazon right now you can get it for 146 new or 118 used. The price fluctuates and it's not uncommon for Amazon to sell it for 125 if you wait a little. It's a GREAT lens and lives on my wife's Pentax K-r (which is newer than my K20D, has video capabilities with manual focusing, and can be found for about 250-300 - though I found mine for 150 on Craigslist).